Starburst
by RainbowVeins1612
Summary: Harry Potter's twin sister is often overlooked when her brother is around, except by the Weasley Twins. So when her name, along with her brother's gets spat out of the Goblet of Fire... She very much wishes she could go back to being overlooked.
1. Chapter 1

The moment that stupid glorified cup began going haywire after choosing its champions, I immediately began to sink down in my seat between the Weasley twins at the Gryffindor table. I silently prayed to whatever gods that were listening that the next piece of parchment it spat out had nothing to do with me or my brother, Harry

The Gods, unsurprisingly since I wasn't religious in anyway, did not answer my prayers. Across from me, Harry sunk down in his seat too, trying to hide from Professor Dumbledore's eyes as he scanned the crowded hall looking for us and calling our names. Slowly we both rose from our seats – it was like watching a mirror, the way we did things in unison sometimes. We made our way down our respective sides of the table until we met at the end and cast each other worried looks.

Dumbledore handed Harry a charred piece of parchment and I looked at it over his shoulder, scrawled on the paper in thick, untidy handwriting that was neither Harry's nor my own, were two names:

Harry & Emalia Potter

We were ushered away quickly into the trophy room by Professor McGonagall, her expression tried to remain calm and indifferent but her eyes I noticed looked worried. Upon entering the trophy room three pairs of confused eyes turned to look at us, the champions having missed the spectacle that had just occurred in the Great Hall were understandably confused to see us. We didn't have a second to explain though as no sooner had the door closed behind us, it was being thrown open again by a crowd of teachers arguing amongst themselves until finally Dumbldore spoke directly to Harry.

"Harry," He said _calmly_ , "Did you put your names in the Goblet of Fire?" He didn't ask me if I'd done it – I hadn't, but he didn't even ask me if I had. Since entering the Wizarding world it had always been abundantly clear that Dumbledore preferred Harry. I could have been holding a sign that said I had thrown our names into that stupid cup and he'd more than likely still asked Harry if he'd done it.

Harry shook his head in reply, "No Sir," He replied and the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy accused him of being a liar. The adults in the room began to argue again and Harry stood close to my side, his hand found mine and he squeezed it reassuringly.

"This is out of my hands," Bartemius Crouch, a representative from the ministry of magic said, causing the argument to come to halt, "As of today, Mr and Miss Potter are Triwizard champions." An array of different expressions spread over the group of adults, some looked angry, others worried and once again Dumbldore's expression was unreadable.

A little while later Harry and I were allowed to leave the trophy room, we headed straight up to Gryffindor tower in silence – I didn't have any words to say to him, I believed he was telling the truth – he hadn't put our names in the cup – but I was still angry that once again my idealistic idea of having a quiet year at school had been shattered and for some reason a part of me blamed Harry. Once we reached the Gryffindor common room, we separated. Harry went to Ron and Hermione who seemed to be arguing about something and I headed for Fred and George who were laughing – they were always laughing.

"Hey there, trouble." George said shifting over on the sofa so I could take up my usual spot between him and Fred.

"So how'd you manage it?" Fred asked, putting an arm round my shoulders and leaning towards me to listen to whatever clever plan he thought I'd come up with to get my name in that cup.

"Yeah, Emmy." George added, leaning in himself so the three of us were huddled together, "Fred and I had been working on getting that aging potion right for weeks and even that didn't work."

I shrugged, "I didn't." I told them truthfully, and they both sighed and flopped back onto the sofa, crossing their arms. I tried to stifle a laugh, Harry and I mimicked each other on occasion but it was like every joint of Fred and George was connected and almost every movement was the same. "Sorry to disappoint, boys but I told you I thought this whole thing was ridiculous, why would I ever put mine and Harry's names into that cup?"

The twins shrugged and George sat back up, "So do you reckon you're going to win?" He asked and I really laughed then.

"No, if anything I'll be spending most of trying to pretend I'm not involved." I replied.

Fred and George were my best friends since the very first day I arrived at Hogwarts – more accurately, on the train _to_ Hogwarts...

* * *

"Can I sit in here?" I asked nervously as I slid open a compartment door – inside were three people, a girl with dark skin and hair that was twisted into lots of little braids, she was astonishingly pretty I noted. The next was a dark skinned boy with dreadlocks and a grin so wide I could see every tooth, an infectious grin that made me want to laugh at nothing. The third was a pale skinned boy with red hair and freckles, it was this boy who replied to her.

"Sorry shorty, we're full in here." He told me, though the compartment easily could fit six people inside.

"Oh c'mon, Fred." Another boy said, startling me as he appeared by my side. He looked just like the other boy, pale skin, red hair and freckles – twins, I noted happily, being a twin myself it was nice to find another pair since there weren't any back home. "I'm sure we can squeeze her in, she is very small after all." He ushered me into the compartment and slid the door closed as I took a seat next to the boy named Fred and his brother introduced himself as George as he took the seat on my other side. I didn't know then that this would become a permanent seating arrangement wherever we went.

Once the introductions were out of the way – the other boy was named Lee and the girl was Angelina – they began to tell me about Hogwarts and all the pranks they liked to pull. Once the conversation had ebbed a little I decided to make some conversation of my own,

"I'm a twin too you know," I told them, this seemed to perk up Fred and George's interest, or at least they sat up a little more in their seats.

"Are you really?" Fred asked,

"Where's your sister then?" George added.

"Brother, actually." I corrected, "He's down the other end of the train, we had a fight." I explained

"Yes well siblings can a nuisance sometimes," The twins spoke in unison, eyeballing each other for a moment which made everyone laugh.

"He's called Harry," I carried on once everyone had calmed down a little, "We're the Potter Twins."

"No way." Angelia said, moving to the edge of her seat, "Your brother is Harry Potter?" She sounded astonished, " _The_ Harry Potter?"

I sighed, regretting that I had ever mentioned Harry at all – ever since we entered the wizarding world, no matter who we spoke to they would always go gaga over Harry, apparently most people didn't even realise he had a sister, most people didn't really care.

"Yes, _The_ Harry Potter." I repeated in confirmation as I sunk down a little in my seat, ready for the questions to begin.

"I didn't know he was a twin, no one's ever mentioned that." Lee perked up and I sunk down a little further. I answered their questions as best I could and explained that I didn't even know anything about it till recently.

"Don't _you_ have any questions?" I asked rather bitterly, looking at Fred who had been quiet through the whole interview. He looked at me with careful eyes, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Do you have a scar too?" He asked and my hand instantly flew up to my neck, not because my scar was on my neck but because I could disguise rubbing my scar as rubbing my neck.

My scar was small and hidden behind my left ear, it was sort of star shaped but with too many points. I rubbed it gently with my little finger as I faked scratched the side of my neck. "No," I replied, "I don't." Looking back I don't know why I ever lied, I was self-conscious I guess – An eleven year old girl with already low self-esteem, I didn't want anyone to have a reason to think I was imperfect.

I could see the corner of Fred's lips twitch up ever so slightly, he knew I was lying but he didn't pry.

* * *

I looked at Fred now, sunk low into the sofa cushions, his arms folded across his chest and his eyelids closed, he looked like he was sleeping but I could tell that he wasn't, Fred Weasley – the only person to ever ask a question about _me_.

* * *

 _Hope you liked it? Leave me a review with some helpful critisims maybe? Or just to tell me you liked it_ _**~RainbowVeins**_


	2. Chapter 2

"Your first task is dragons," Fred said dumping his pile of books heavily onto the table beside me, I looked up at him from my seat to find him not focused on me as I had thought but looking across the library at Angelina, he was flirting with her silently – using mostly winks and eyebrow raising – and she was trying hard not to laugh at him and doing a poor job of trying to look uninterested. I don't know why but this made me angry.

"If you're quite finished," I said, putting down the quill I had been writing out my homework with and crossing my arms, "I'd very much like to know what on earth you're talking about."

Fred, still smiling to himself turned to look at me, "Oh don't pout like that darling, you know you're still my favourite girl." He replied mockingly as he dropped himself into the chair beside me. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed.

"Fred, I'm not in the mood for your jokes right now." I told him and he frowned at me.

"Emmy, please – You are always in the mood for my jokes, I'm hilarious" Fred replied leaning back in his chair so it was only stood on two legs. I didn't laugh, I was actually quite stressed out about this whole task thing, I really didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of the whole school.

"Emmy, are you okay?" Fred asked, dropping the chair back onto all four legs and looking at me with those careful eyes, he always got like that when I didn't laugh at something he'd said, like me not laughing meant there was something seriously wrong.

"I'm just scared," I admitted, "I don't want look like an idiot in front of everyone while Harry blazes ahead looking like the boy wonder."

"You could never look like an idiot," Fred replied, "You're clever, you'll figure it out." He sounded supportive which made me feel warm, "You have to, George and I have a bet on that you'll come out top." The warm feeling dried up quicker than a light rain in the Sahara desert. I punched him no too lightly in the arm and he laughed.

"You're such an arse," I told him, "What were you on about dragons for anyway?" I asked

"That's what I came to tell you," Fred replied, "My brother Charlie just brought them over from Romania, your first task is facing a dragon."

I felt like someone had just drop ice down my back, How was I supposed to face a dragon?

"Whoa Em, you've gone as white as a ghost." Fred said, he tried to sound worried but he couldn't keep from sniggering. I thought I was going to pass out, "Calm down, love." Fred added, "You'll be fine, Charlie said dragons are easily distracted, so you've just got to distract it – I mean I doubt they're going to get you to slay a dragon." Fred was right of course, I doubted they were going to get school children to murder a dragon.

"Can you take me to see them? The dragons I mean." I asked, Fred shrugged.

"I think it's cheating for you to even know about them so unless you could convince Harry to let you use that invisibility cloak of his..." Fred trailed off, he knew very well that the invisibility cloak that had once belonged to their father was a sore spot between the Potter twins and had been the source of many arguments before now.

I never understood why the cloak should belong to Harry alone, when it had belonged to their joint father – surely it should belong to them both equally? But no Harry insisted it was his because whoever had sent it to him that Christmas in first year had addressed it only to him.

I raised my eyebrows at him and shook my head, "I should probably go tell Harry about the dragons anyway though," I replied and began to collect my papers together.

"Hey, Ron's got that covered," Fred replied and caught my arm as I began to rise from my seat, "Stay a while, won't you?"

I lowered back into my seat and nodded slowly, "Sure," I said quietly. We sat for a moment in silence, his hand still resting on my arm but only for a moment, then he took his hand away and used it to rub the back of his neck as he cleared his throat,

"George and I were wondering if you wanted to play a part in a prank we're planning?" He asked and I asked him what the prank was, for some reason I felt disappointed – like I'd been waiting for something that didn't happen. I agreed to help with their prank.

* * *

I came in to dinner a little later than everyone else but nether the less my spot between Fred and George was free and I happily slotted myself in like a perfect jigsaw piece.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked from across the table as he spooned mashed potato on to his plate.

"Just in the library, reading." I replied, I'd stayed in the library long after Fred had gotten bored and left, I must have ready every book on dragons it had now.

"I need to talk to you about the first task," Harry went on in a hushed tone, "I've already told Cedric, but I didn't know where you were, the first task is -"

"Dragons, I know." I cut him off, "I can't believe you told Cedric before me." I had no problem with him telling Cedric of course but he could have at least found me first, there weren't many times when I wasn't in the library – I wasn't that hard to find.

"Please don't start," Harry replied, "I can't have Ron and you mad at me." I didn't even know Ronald was mad at him, I cast a glance over to the youngest Weasley boy as he pushed his food round his plate, he must have been upset, I don't think there had ever been a time when Ron wasn't hungry.

I turned back to Harry, "Fine, I'll let it go this time." I told him, I'd probably use it in a later argument anyway. "What's Ron mad about?"

"He thinks I put my name in the Goblet of Fire without telling him." Harry shrugged, I thought it was kind of sweet really, he was mad that Harry had kept something from him – even if truthfully he hadn't. I said this to Harry, to which he replied, "Yes, well I think he's being a git."

"Well, I'm sure you two will work it out eventually, but for now – what are we going to do about the dragons?" I asked, we spent most of dinner discussing strategy and came up with nothing, Harry decided that he would ask Sirius about it when he contacted him in a couple of days, "You didn't tell me you'd had a letter from Sirius," I pointed out, not accusingly just curiously.

"Yes, he said he wants me to see him in the common room Saturday night at midnight, I'm not sure what he really means but I'll be there if you want to come?" I agreed to go in hopes that Sirius could give us some ideas on how to best deal with a dragon. "Have you heard we have an interview for the Daily prophet tomorrow?" Harry asked casually like it was something that happened all the time.

"Yes, McGonagall told my in class this morning, I'm not looking forward to it." I replied,

"Me either." Harry agreed. We looked at each other across the table, wearing matching worried expressions.

I wished we looked more alike – not identical like Fred and George but similar, like siblings should. Harry looked like dad, everyone who had ever met our father always said so – except his eyes which were mum's – I on the other hand didn't look much like either of them, I was blonde for a start, not pale blonde but more of a dark blonde with hints of red – goodness knows how since neither of my parents were blonde. My eyes were green like Harry's but not as bright – less emerald shine and more forest green, my eyesight was a lot better too, I still needed glasses for reading and I wore them on an evening if my eyes were aching from tiredness but they weren't the same shape as Harry's, they were thickly framed at the top of the lenses and thin at the bottom, I always thought it made me look like I had a second pair of eyebrows made from plastic and tried to avoid wearing them when people were around.

Fred had said they were cute once.

* * *

I was up late in the Gryffindor Common room one night in third year, trying to complete the homework Professor Snape had set us but I was useless at potions and couldn't figure it out – the table I sat at was covered in screwed up balls of parchment and drips of ink.

"I didn't know you wore glasses," Fred said coming down the boy's stairs wearing tartan pyjama bottoms and a Weasley jumper with the letter 'G' on. I quickly took my glasses off and hid them under a pile of paper.

"Why are you wearing George's jumper?" I asked and Fred looked down surprised to see that his jumper did in fact not belong to him.

He laughed as he walked over to the sofa and threw himself lazily onto its cushions, sprawling out and getting comfy, "How did you know I wasn't George?" He asked, even his own mother couldn't always be sure.

"I just know." I replied, which was the truth – there was no real trick to it she just always seemed to know which was which even when they tried to parade around as each other.

"Hey, we're almost matching, mum picked a good colour for you this year." Fred said and I looked down at the pale blue Weasley jumper I'd received for Christmas this year, on it was an elaborate letter 'E' in a darker blue underlined by a string of white daisies, I didn't receive a lot of gifts at Christmas and my Weasley jumpers were always my favourite.

"Yeah," I replied "I think this is my favourite one so far." I only had three altogether but this one had longer sleeves than the others and they covered my hands and kept me warm – this one just felt better all round.

"What are you doing up?" I asked changing the subject, it was way past midnight and everyone else had gone to bed a long time ago.

"I couldn't get warm, thought I'd come down and sit by the fire for a bit." Fred shrugged, "What are you still doing up? You don't look like you've even tried going to bed."

"I haven't," I confirmed, "I just need to get this essay finished for Snape tomorrow."

"Why bother?" Fred asked, "You can just join me and George in detention, it'll be fun and you can stop worrying about it." I couldn't, no matter how much I wanted to just throw all the pages into the fire and forget about it, I didn't want to give Snape any reason to take points away from Gryffindor not if I could help it. I went back to scribbling away words that didn't make much sense.

A moment later and Fred appeared at my side, taking my pages out from under my quill, "Half of this doesn't even make sense, can you even see what you're writing?" I felt myself blush, honestly my eyes were so tired that without my glasses on, I really had no idea if what I was writing was even legible.

"Put your glasses back on, Emmy." He told me, "I won't laugh." I wouldn't have usually believed it, Fred laughed at everything but something about the way he said it made him sound so serious. I picked my glasses out from under a the stack of paper and pushed them back up my nose. The world came into focus once again and I could see that most of my writing was just scribbles.

"They're actually pretty cute," Fred said and his face immediately flushed, his hand did that nervous thing where he rubbed the back of his neck, just to give his hands something to do.

"They are not," I replied and I told him my thoughts about plastic eyebrows.

"I still think they're cute." Fred concluded, and handed back my potions essay. He went back to the sofa and I worked a little longer, the silence between us was comfortable.

"It's not great but at least it's something to hand in." I said upon completing my essay. I left it on the table and walked over to the sofa where Fred lay sprawled out, he shifted his legs slightly so I could lay down at the opposite end, our legs fighting for space in the middle.

"Well, that's all that matters really." Fred replied sleepily. His eyes were closed but I could tell he was still awake, just about.

"Why don't you go back to bed, Fred?" I asked, feeling the tiredness kick in myself as I stifled a yawn.

"Because you're down _here_." He replied, and my stomach suddenly felt hollow, like I hadn't eaten all day.

"What do you mean?" I asked but Fred was snoring lightly and had already fallen asleep. I smiled a little to myself and snuggled down into the sofa cushions, letting the heat from the fire warm my face, I hadn't planned it but a few minutes late and I was asleep too.

I woke up a couple of hours later to find that Fred had gone but he'd covered me with a blanket his mother had knitted, a dark blue blanket with a light blue 'F' in the centre, he must have gone upstairs and brought it down to cover me before going back to bed. I wrapped the blanket round myself – it smelt like Fred – Like sweets and firework smoke - and headed up the girl's stairs where my bed waited for me.

* * *

I still hadn't given that blanket back almost a full year later, I wondered if Fred even remembered that I had it. I cast a glance at Fred beside me and was surprised to find he was looking at me too.

"What?" I asked, wiping my cheek with my hand, "Do I have something on my face?" Fred shook his head.

"No, I just..." He trailed off for a second, "Your eyes look tired, is all."

"I guess I am kind of tired," I shrugged my shoulders, "I'll probably just head straight to bed after dinner." And that's exactly what I did, I ate dinner then we all walked up to Gryffindor tower together, I said goodnight and went to bed, wrapping myself in Fred's knitted blanket and falling right to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

"I literally didn't say any of this," I said as Rita Skeeter's ridiculous article about the Triwizard champions read itself to us at breakfast. "No offence, Harry." I added as an after thought – most of what she had written was just me _doting_ on my brother like he was some kind of prize poodle.

"None taken," Harry replied – his comments weren't any better, she kept getting his age wrong, even though we were twins and she got mine right? - he shovelled some cereal into his mouth quite angrily, I thought his pride must have taken a knock because of the article; it _was_ rather sickening to read.

I screwed up my copy of the daily prophet and shoved it deep into the pocket of my robes, I'd probably find it again later and throw it in the fireplace or something.

"Don't forget you said you'd talk to Sirius with me tonight," Harry reminded me which was helpful as I had completely forgotten.

I nodded, "Yes of course, I'll be there." Sirius Black, though he was Harry's godfather, he wasn't mine – that role belonged to Remus Lupin who I'd had the pleasure of getting to know last year, until he turned out to be a werewolf and nearly killed me that is, he writes to me occasionally but I am yet to write back. It's not that I hold him being a werewolf against him, I just still have nightmares about that night – Harry nearly died that night and Remus nearly _killed me_ , I still have a lot to work out about it.

* * *

The day passed uneventfully, classes were normal, hanging out with Fred and George was normal, Fred flirting with Angelina was _annoyingly normal_ – If it weren't for the lingering sense of dread I had clinging to me about facing off a dragon in a couple of days, I would have been able to pretend I was having the quiet school year I wanted.

Harry and I sat together on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room waiting patiently as the other students trickled off to bed, I spent most of the time reading up on dragons whilst Harry spent it looking perplexed and worried. Once we were alone, Harry stood up and began pacing.

"Will you please sit back down," I told him, "You're going to wear a hole into the floor."

"Sorry," Harry said and retook his seat, "You seem unusually calm about facing off with a dragon two days." I closed my book and set it down on the sofa.

"I've accepted I'm probably going to die and made peace with it," I joked, Harry stared at me wide eyed, "I'm kidding, Harry." I said with a small laugh, "You need to stop stressing, you'll be fine." I was glad I was appearing calm I didn't think I could deal with the added stress of people seeing how scared I felt. I dug around in my cloak pocket, hoping to find a forgotten chocolate bar of sweet to give him – chocolate made people feel better, instead I pulled out my copy of the daily prophet. I narrowed my eyes at the posing picture of Rita Skeeter.

"Time to put this where it belongs." I said and threw the paper in the fire. It crackled for a while and then it sputtered and startled me when a face appeared among the flames. "Sirius! You scared the life out of me." I said taking a step away from the fireplace, Harry appeared quickly at my side, eager to speak to his Godfather.

"Sorry Emalia," Sirius spoke from the flames and that was all I got from the man who focussed his entire attention on Harry. Sirius warned Harry to stay away from Snape and the Durmstrang headmaster, Karkaroff and they were about to discuss taking on a dragon when footsteps sounded from the boy's stairs. Sirius disappeared as Ron emerged and he and Harry had a small altercation.

"You guys need to work this out soon," I said, annoyed that Sirius hadn't provided us with anything helpful.

"He needs to stop being an arse." Harry retorted, "I'm going to bed." He stormed off up stairs without so much as a good night.

* * *

I was ninety percent sure that I was going to throw up, Harry seemed to have figured out at least some idea of what he was going to do but it involved a broom and I hated flying so whatever he was going to do I couldn't use it myself.

"Well you look awful," Fred said wandering into the champion's tent like he belonged there.

"Thanks," I replied with a slight smile, "What are you doing here?" He shrugged at me and took a seat beside me on the bench I had claimed the moment I'd arrived.

"I thought I'd come tell you to calm down," He replied, "I knew you'd be all freaked out and paler than that vanilla ice-cream you were happily helping yourself to thirds of at dinner last night."

"Are you telling me I'm getting fat, Fred?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he held his hands up defensively.

"No way, I was telling you I was impressed – I've no idea how you can just keep eating like that." He replied and I smiled a little embarrassed, in truth she'd been stress eating. I shrugged at him and he flung his arm in a supportive manner around my shoulder, I smiled at him for real now and he said, "Remember, dragons are easily distracted, especially by something shiny – you're smart, you'll figure something out." I was about to reply when a flash of light blinded me for a second. Once the light had cleared I found I was looking up into the bespectacled eyes of that terrible journalist Rita Skeeter wearing a terribly amused smile.

"How sweet," She said and I stood up from the bench, about to give her a piece of my mind when her attention was suddenly grabbed by a more interesting subject, Harry. The camera flashed again, catching a shot of Hermione wrapping her arms around my brother – I liked Hermione, she was level headed and genuinely cared for more brother, sometimes more than I did I thought. The scene was over quickly as Viktor Krum all but kicked the woman out.

"Well, I better make myself scarce." Fred said, "You be good out there, darling." He told me, chucking me gently under the chin. "I've got a lot of money riding on you not dying today." He added and laughed - I punch him playfully in the arm and he stood smiling down at me for a moment. Then he left and the sick feeling came back.

We picked tiny dragons out of a bag, each had a little tag around their necks with a number on, Cedric would go first, Fleur would go second, Viktor would go fourth – I reached into the bag and carefully pulled out a dragon by its tail, the creature's scales were black like tar and it had spikes at the end of its tail, around its neck hung a number three - I was glad not to be going last at least.

"Hebridean Black," Crouch announced as the small replica of a much large dragon tried to eat my finger.

I sat by Harry as I waited for my turn, he would be going last and I imagined he felt just as scared as I did. I took his hand and squeezed it gently, resting my head on his shoulder. We didn't often have moments of affection but I was next and there was a great chance that I could die so I thought I'd better let him know that I didn't hate him or anything.

"Get ready Miss Potter." A teacher announced and I sighed.

"I love you, Harry." I whispered to my brother and he looked at me like I'd just confirmed his death sentence. I stood up from the bench and headed over to the arena entrance, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself.

"Emalia?" Harry said and I looked over my shoulder to see him still sat on the bench where I'd left him, "I love you too, _really._ " The added 'really' made me wonder if sometimes he knew how much I doubted that he cared about me – sure Harry cared about everyone but sometimes it felt like I was just anyone, and not his sister. I nodded once and turned away from him again, waiting for the canon to sound.

I'd read a lot about dragons over the last week or so, Hebridean Blacks could grow to be thirty feet tall so when I stepped into the area – wand out and ready to fight – I expected to see it straight away, but I couldn't. Everything was quiet around me, not even the crowd made a sound as I crossed over the rocky playing field. Then I heard a rock fall behind me and I turned slowly on my heel, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst from my chest as I came to find the dragons snout no more than twenty centimetres from my own face.

I could feel myself shaking in fear as the creature opened its mouth and let out an almighty roar, its hot breath blowing me till I fell over. The crowd erupted in its own roar of excitement as I scrambled away from the dragons piercing purple eyes. I panicked as the beast chased after me and cast my first spell only because it was the only one I could think of,

"Avis!" I shouted brandishing my wand as a flock of birds sprouted from the end with a sound like a gun shot and began flying around the dragons head, the dragon began biting at the birds who flew around towards it and away from it in an almost teasing manner. This was not a spell I had learnt in class but one I had taught myself while procrastinating instead of doing homework one night. I used this distraction to get back to my feet and make a run towards the dragons nest but only half way there and the dragon was ignoring the birds and chasing me down, at least then I could maybe have a nice chat with it and explain the situation. The birds still flew around the creatures head and I looked over my shoulder as it approached only long enough to shout a second spell,

"Oppugno!" The birds dived at the dragon, clawing and pecking at the scales around the poor creatures eyes. I didn't really like seeing it get hurt, it didn't have a choice being there any more than I did. The dragon let out another ground shaking roar and I stumbled, catching my leg on a jagged which cut through my trousers and a good few layers of my skin. I gulped as I picked myself back up, I felt too numb to feel the pain right now but from the blood that was now pooling down my leg I reckoned I would definitely feel that once the adrenaline wore off.

I made a final dash for the nest, being careful not to stand on any of the other eggs as I reached for to golden on that was my prize. I breathed out a sigh of relief as my hand touched the cool metal and lifted the egg high into the air so that everybody could see it was over.

It was over.

* * *

 _I've just written a really cute chapter that i can't wait to share with you guys but sadly its not the next chapter as I decided to procrastinate and write a full chapter of an idea instead of just writing down the idea for later when i got to that bit, oops? **~RainbowVeins**_


	4. Chapter 4

Harry did great and most of Gryffindor thought so too as they celebrated in the common room. I sat between Fred and George on the sofa, my own gold egg on my lap as a group of Gryffindor's hoisted Harry onto their shoulders.

"Should I open it?" I asked the twins and they shrugged.

Then Harry asked the entire crowd if he should open his egg and everyone encouraged him, eager to find out what the egg concealed. Harry sprung open the latch and the room filled with an ear piercing screeching noise, he fought to get the latch closed again.

"Don't you dare," Fred said plucking my egg out of my hands and holding it out of reach as I fought to get it back.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked from the doorway and the room went silent.

"Do something," I said nudging Fred in the side, he handed my egg back to me and I clutched it close to my side as he spoke again,

"All right everyone, go back to your knitting. This is going to be uncomfortable enough without all you nosy sods listening in." He called out and as if cued by a script everyone was suddenly very busy or focussed on something else. I hoped this was the moment that Harry and Ron made up.

"Hey, Emmy you're still bleeding." George said suddenly very worried about the blood trickling down my leg, I'd noticed a few cuts on my hands since coming back inside and a underneath the dirt on my face was a graze – I must have slid against the rock when I'd fallen.

"Oh, it doesn't matter." I shrugged, "I'm sure it'll stop soon."

"C'mon," Fred said pulling me up from the sofa.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I dropped my egg onto the cushions.

"To see Madam Pomfrey, of course." Fred replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, I reach back to pick up my egg but George plucked it out of my reach, telling me he'd take care of it. I was half walked and half dragged down to the infirmary to see the nurse.

"Ah, Miss Potter." The nurse said as she sat me down on a bed to take a look at my leg, "You'll live I should think," She said, making a sort of joke out of my injury, "You may think about washing your face though." The nurse healed up my cuts and bruises without any problems, a couple of taps of her wand and it was like I'd never been hurt at all – she even brought me so water and a cloth to wash my face. All the while Fred sat on a stool by my bedside, just like last year.

* * *

I woke in the middle of the night, dripping in a cold sweat and confused about where I was.

"Hey, darling." A voice said and a hand clasped my own, "It's okay, you're okay." I wasn't okay, I'd just had a nightmare about my godfather turning into a werewolf and attacking me – I'd relive that scene in my dreams every night for months and slowly it would start to fade out but occasionally it would pop back up to remind me of the time I was almost bitten by a werewolf. I looked down at the hand holding my own and followed its connected arm up until I found Fred's face.

I gulped back tears but a few still escaped my eyes and Fred used his other hand to wipe them away. I wasn't badly injured, a few bruises here and there but I woke up screaming some nights so Dumbledore had thought it best I stay in the infirmary so as not to wake the other girls in my dorm. I felt pathetic – Harry was practically dead that night and he was _fine._

"Talk about it," Fred said, pulling me close to him so I rested against his chest, he said talking about it would help me feel better about it and sometimes nights it did, others not so much but I tried it anyway.

"We battled the whomping willow to save Ron from the dog that dragged him off," I began, this always got at least a small laugh out of Fred. "Then when everything inside the shrieking shack was over – everything was good." I smiled here because for a few seconds – Harry seemed truly happy. "Then the moon – and Professor Lupin began to change." It had been rather horrifying to watch as his bones cracked and his features distorted as he turned from the godfather I had started to let beyond the walls I kept around myself into a beast unable to control himself. "Then he leapt at me, I screamed – Like a child." Fred assured me he'd have probably screamed too. "I hit the ground so hard that I'm not even sure if I was completely conscious for all of it - the creature had me pinned and I fought at him with my hands, he scratched me with his _claws._ _"_ That word always got caught in my throat and Fred's grip on me tightened a little, "There was blood, all mine – my hands were covered in it and my face, he goes to bite me then and I'm convinced I'm going to die..."

I trailed off then because I'm crying too much to continue. Fred rocked me gently.

"But you didn't," He tells me like I need reminding that I'm still alive, "You didn't die, you're still here." I was still here because Sirius had transformed back into a dog and battled dived at Lupin, knocking him away from me, I'd fallen unconscious then and next I woke up it was morning and I was in the hospital wing and Fred was sat beside my bed, asleep but still holding my hand.

* * *

I hadn't liked coming to the hospital wing since then - I avoided it as much as possible. Thinking about Remus Lupin now made me feel guilty for not responding to his letters – I never even opened them, he must feel awful about what happened and I was terrible for not giving him the forgiveness he deserved, I didn't even blame him for what happened. I promised to myself that I would open his letters and respond to them that night.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Fred said and I turned to look at him, I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him hard without really thinking.

"Thank you," I said and he patted my shoulder gently.

"Alright Em, calm down," He replied, "All I did was sit here." I pulled back from him and he looked at me with those careful eyes again.

"Not for now," I told him, "For last time." He offered me a small smile and nodded.

"All I did was sit here." He repeated and offered me a hand to help me up as he stood. I took it, he knew very well that isn't all he did for me back then, I hoped he knew how truly grateful I was – other people had visited me, Harry of course and he'd brought Hermione along with him, Ron was on crutches but even he'd popped in with them, George had come too and Angelina had brought me flowers but only Fred had stayed and he never let go of my hand.

The two of us left the infirmary and for a little while, Fred still held my hand.


	5. Chapter 5

"The Yule Ball," Professor McGonagall announced one morning after calling Gryffindor house together – she went then went on to discuss what it was but I wasn't stupid, I knew what a ball was and I very much wanted no part in it, except to laugh at Ron as McGonagall used him to demonstrate the official dance of the ball, the teacher then called everyone to their feet but I stayed put – as did the majority of the boys.

Once the dance lesson was over and everyone was leaving the Professor called my name as I made it to the door, sighing I turned back to her, "Yes, professor?" I asked.

"I meant to catch Harry before he left too," The Professor said looking towards the door for a moment, "No matter, I'll tell him later. Miss Potter, I noticed you didn't join in with our dance lesson?" The teacher asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Professor," I replied, "I don't think I'll be attending."

"Oh but you must," She protested, "It's tradition that the champions are the first to dance, you'll need to find a partner." My heart sank.

"What if I can't find one?" I asked since I was sure this would be the case.

"Well you will, but should that happen, I'll have someone on standby ready to step in." The teacher replied, great the head of Gryffindor house was ready to supply me with an emergency date for when I turned up alone. She probably meant it to reassure me that nothing could possibly go wrong, but I think needing to use her standby partner would be more soul crushing than not dancing at all.

* * *

Two weeks passed and no one had asked me – Harry had, had several offers but turned them all down as he was working up the courage to ask Cho Chang. I didn't waste my time on trying to entice a boy to ask me, if they wanted to ask me then they should just do it. Instead I focused my energies on the egg and trying to figure out what it meant, Christmas was approaching rapidly and I had come up with nothing, but then neither had Harry so I didn't feel completely useless.

A group of us sat in the common room one evening after dinner, I was in my usual spot with the Weasley twins and across from us sat Harry and his friends.

"You guys had better get a move on, all the girls will be taken before you can ask them," Fred said and Ron shot him a dirty look.

"Who are you taking then?" He demanded and I perked up a little, Fred hadn't asked anyone and I hoped a little that he would use this moment to ask me – or any moment really. Fred paused for a moment looking round the common room, then the corner of his lips twitched up into a smile.

"Angelina!" He called across the room and my heart sank a little but a small part of me thought perhaps he was just fooling around.

Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him.  
"What?" She called back.  
"Want to come to the ball with me?" Fred asked and there was that hollow feeling in my stomach again. Angelina gave Fred a sort of appraising look.  
"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.  
"There you go," said Fred to Harry and Ron, "piece of cake."

I stood up from the sofa rather quickly, "Sorry, I'm suddenly not feeling well." I said and rushed towards the girl's stairs before the tears that threatened to fall could make an appearance. I lingered half way up the stairs, long enough to hear Fred suggest I'd eaten too many slices of chocolate cake at dinner. I hurried up the remaining steps.

* * *

Fred's PoV

"Why didn't you ask Emmy?" George asked once we were alone.

"Why would I?" I retorted, I didn't look George in the eye – I couldn't look George in the eye – instead I focussed on pulling the loose thread on the sleeve of my jumper.

"Because you know very well she's convinced no one will ask her." George replied, I did know that – she'd told us more than once. "And you know she wants to go with you." I knew that too but my feelings for Emmy were complicated.

"You know why I couldn't go with her." I told George and he told me I was an idiot.

"You're being ridiculous, you're not going to ruin anything by going to a dance together." George replied but he didn't understand, not really. I didn't want to give myself the chance to offer Emalia anything but friendship – She was so young, I knew there was only two years between us but it was a huge gap in my head and mostly I didn't want to have any chance to break her heart and if that meant not having possession over it in the first place then so be it.

I could ruin and lose a friendship with Angelina – I would be upset of course but eventually I'd get over it, but if I were to doing something to lose Emmy...

That would destroy me.

* * *

"I thought you said you didn't have a scar?" I asked Emalia as I helped her with a potion she'd struggled with in her class that day – George and I were actually quite good at potions but we tried to keep it on the down low.

It had been a year since that first day on the train and every so often I would test a theory, I'd mention a scar just to see her reaction and every time it was the same, she'd rub behind her right ear. This time as she confirmed she didn't have a scar was no different – her hand went straight to her ear.

"I know you're lying." I said and she looked up at me with her dark green eyes, all full of worry. I explained how I knew she was lying and she tried to deny it again. "Just let me see it, Emmy." I pleaded, I don't know why I wanted to see it so bad – maybe just to confirm I'd been right all along. She finally agreed and slowly pulled her blonde hair back from her ear exposing her neck, she tilted her head slightly so I could get a better view.

"It's like a star, but I don't know its like it's exploded or burst or something." I rambled on about it like she must have no idea what it looked like. It wasn't anything to be ashamed of though.

She pulled her hair back to cover it again, "Harry used to call me that," She said, "When we were little and our Aunt used to lock us in the cupboard." I winced a little at the thought of her been locked away somewhere – though she'd told me about it before. "I'd get so scared, Harry would make up stories to make me feel better - I liked superhero stories and he used to make us characters in them." She looked up at me a little embarrassed then, "He was Lightening and I was Starburst." I still watched her carefully, I liked watching the way she moved, she was careful and thoughtful with every move she made and I liked the way the red shades in her hair danced like tinted gold when the light hit it just right and I like the way she bit her lip when she was nervous or embarrassed – like she was doing now.

"That's adorable." I mocked her playfully and she punched me in the arm – I even liked when she did that.

* * *

I had thought it was the most adorable thing – I'd thought she was the most adorable thing and I'd called her Starburst throughout that entire year, I didn't call her that now - I tried not to call her anything but her name unless I was mocking her but occasionally I'd forget and I'd call her darling or something affectionate like that.

"I'm going to ask her." Said George, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"You're what?" I asked, not sure I'd heard him right.

"I'm going to ask Emmy to the ball." George repeated – he still looked mad at me.

"No you're not, George." I told him firmly and he rolled his eyes at me.

"And why ever not, Fred?" He asked.

"Because I don't want to look at you dancing with her and see what I could have if I wasn't so afraid of getting what I wanted." I replied and George's eyes filled with pity – my own brother pitied me.

"Okay Fred." He agreed but he didn't look pleased about it. I always wondered if perhaps George felt for Emalia the same way I did but he'd never mentioned it if he did.


	6. Chapter 6

Christmas day arrived and I still had no date for the ball that night, I didn't tell anyone and no one had asked me about it so I put on a brave face and went down to the common room to collect my new Weasley jumper. I was the last of our group to come downstairs this year, usually I was the first down on Christmas morning but I hadn't fallen asleep till very late last night and I must have slept in. I sat down in front of the Christmas tree to a chorus of merry Christmases. I scanned the pile of presents beneath the tree – with everybody staying for Christmas this year there were a lot more to search through - I was looking for a neatly wrapped present that looked sort of lumpy and...

"Looking for this?" Fred asked offering me exactly what I was looking for, Mrs Weasley had a very distinct wrapping style, very neat yet somehow still looked untidy - I loved it. I took the parcel gently from his hands, "I thought I'd fish it out for you, save you the trouble." He offered me a smile.

"Thanks." I replied, but I didn't smile back. I was still upset with him for not asking me to the ball, when I went to sit down I looked at my usual spot and turned away from it, choosing to sit with Harry who sat on the floor by the fireplace instead. Fred looked hurt as he reclaimed his seat, good I thought to myself.

I carefully opened the parcel, trying hard not to tear the paper and wondering what design Mrs Weasley had come up with for my jumper that year but I didn't get a jumper, I was a little disappointed but still very pleased with the scarf she had knitted me instead, it was the same blue as my favourite jumper and had the same daisies on it too, I cast a quick glance at Fred - I wondered if he'd told his mother that, that particular jumper was my favourite and she'd perhaps knitted me a scarf to go with it. I wrapped the knitted scarf around my neck a couple of times and everyone nodded approvingly.

"What did everyone else get?" I asked and the group began to show me their jumpers – Harry got green this year and Ron as per usual got maroon, much to his distaste, Hermione and Ginny also got scarves and George got a plain dark blue jumper which he'd already put on. "No initial this year?" I questioned and George shrugged.

Lastly there was Fred, Fred didn't get a jumper either that year. He'd put his present back in it's wrapping paper but took it out again to show me now, he spread out the pale blue, knitted sheet and I smiled a little, she'd knitted him a blanket with a white letter 'F' in the middle.

"Mum must have thought he'd be cold since he lost his last year." George piped up, "And poor little Freddykins just can't sleep when he's cold." He mocked his brother.

"I didn't lose it." Fred protested, "It was stolen."

"Who'd want to steal a blanket with a giant letter 'F' on it?" I looked at Ginny as she piped up too – I would, I thought to myself, I did. I turned my head to Fred and found he was already looking at me.

"I've no idea," He said and smiled at me, I felt my face flush – we'd never mentioned my stealing his blanket before and so the idea that he knew I had it – Of course he knew, he wasn't stupid – made me feel a little embarrassed, nevertheless I smiled back at him. I was still mad that he didn't ask me to the ball, but I couldn't be mad at him for it forever.

* * *

I looked pretty, sad but pretty. I don't think I'd ever thought that about myself before, not really but in that moment as I stared into the bathroom mirror at my made up face and my curled hair even I had to admit I looked pretty. I took a deep breath and told myself it was okay, I just had to dance one stupid dance then I could leave and it didn't matter that no body had asked me because Professor McGonagall was prepared for such an event to happen. I wondered who she'd picked out to fill the role of my dancing partner.

I left the bathroom and headed down the stairs, I was already later than I should be and the stairs changing direction every other second didn't help the situation. I finally made it downstairs to find professor McGonagall looking particularly frantic.

"Ah, Miss Potter, finally." The professor said as I took the last step, I apologised for my lateness – though I didn't see why it really mattered. "Join the other champions in the queue to go into the Great Hall." She instructed me, "Dean Thomas is waiting for you there." She didn't even ask if I had a date or not. Dean wasn't a bad choice I supposed, she could have stuck me with someone much worse.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked when I finally joined the other champions and their dates, he didn't sound mad, perhaps a little nervous. I shrugged at him.

"I had trouble with my zip." It was the truth, whilst my dress was lovely – it wasn't easy to reach the zipper on the back by myself. My dress had a scoop neckline with sleeve that ended just below my elbows. It was mostly Ivory in colour but had black applique flowers and vines around the bodice and a little onto the puffed out skirt and a black ribbon around the waist. It was floor length with a little train at the back but I'd had it taken up a little at the front so I didn't trip over it.

"I think you look lovely." Dean said from my side, he was maybe slightly taller than the Weasley twins and had dark skin and dark, soft looking eyes. He offered me his arm and I took it a little awkwardly.

"Thank you for doing this," I told Dean as the doors to the hall opened and the sound of applause filled my ears.

"I was surprised I would even need too," He replied, "What kind of idiot misses out on a chance of asking you to a ball?" i felt my face flush and hoped my makeup would hide it. We followed the other champions into the hall, taking up our position on the dance floor – across the hall Harry looked petrified, and I knew I probably looked the same as dean placed his hand on my waist, neither Harry nor myself had ever been very graceful so dancing wasn't something that came to us naturally.

The music started and dean lead me around the floor, picking me up and spinning me in perfect time with everyone else. I was actually having fun. Dean kept making jokes while we danced and I felt less awkward about being provided with a date. Others joined the floor and most of the hall was filled with people dancing in unison. Then it was over, the song ended and everybody clapped.

Dumbledore had managed to get the Weird Sisters to play at the ball and everyone went a little crazy when the started to play their first song. A few songs later; Dean offered to go get us some drinks and I accepted gratefully, forgetting for a second that he wasn't really my date. I scanned the hall, Harry and Ron were sat on the side-lines, their dates looking miserable and across the hall was Fred, dancing and laughing with Angelina; George wasn't too far away from them, sipping red punch from a glass.

I felt hollow again, the illusion that this was all okay shattering around me and wave of sadness seemed to flood over me. I couldn't breathe and I needed to leave – I walked quickly out of the hall and down the corridor.

* * *

I found myself in the courtyard, I didn't even make it to a bench, instead collapsing to the floor beside one and kicking off my stupid gold heels.

I took a few gulps of the crisp, winter night air and my lungs didn't feel so tight any more. I could still hear the music from the hall, slightly muffled but still clear enough that I could make out every word 'This is the Night'. I didn't know many of their songs but I liked a few of them enough and I hoped they played my favourite song even if I wasn't there to listen too it.

"You're going to get your dress all dirty." A voice spoke out and I looked up to see a figure silhouetted in one of the courtyard's archways. I recognised him even before he stepped out enough that he was no longer just a shadow.

"I don't care." I replied shaking my head as Fred walked towards me, he took a seat on the stone bench I leant against.

"You looked like you were having fun." He said and I leant towards him, resting my head gently against his knee, "What happened?"

I laughed a little to myself, "None of it was real." I told him, my voice hitching slightly as I tried not to cry. I didn't like to cry, hated it in fact – it was like allowing a vulnerability to show and once you showed it, people could use it against you. "You shouldn't be here, Fred." I said pushing away from his legs, "You should be inside with Angelina."

"Ah, don't worry about her, George has that covered." Said Fred, "She can't really tell us apart no matter how many times she says she can." A part of me was pleased by that, and another was appalled that he didn't care about leaving his date with someone else. We sat in silence for a while, one song went by and then another, then Fred spoke again, "You never told us Dean asked you to this thing?" It was posed as a question, a 'why didn't you tell us?'

"Because he never asked me." I replied, "No one did." I wanted to look up at him, see his reaction but I stared straight ahead, afraid his reaction would be one of indifference.

"Someone should have asked you." Fred said firmly, like it was an impossibility that no one had bothered to ask me.

"You should have asked me." I'd said it before I could stop myself and the silence fell between us once more.

The first few bars of the next song started and I smiled to myself.

* * *

"What are you girls up too?" Fred said coming into the kitchen where Ginny and I sat.

"Emalia doesn't know any wizard music so I'm introducing her to the Weird Sisters." Ginny replied, she was starting Hogwarts that year and had been happy to have another girl in the burrow that summer.

"Really?" Fred said raising his eyebrows at me, "And what does she think of them?" I was about to reply for myself when Ginny interrupted.

"She's completely backwards when it comes to music," She replied, Ginny liked all the fast songs but I preferred the slower ones. "She thinks her favourite song is Magic Works." I didn't just think it was my favourite, I knew it was.

"Well there's nothing wrong with that is there?" Said Fred, "It's my favourite too." Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother and picked up her portable radio, she left the kitchen complaining that our music tastes were useless.

* * *

"Hey it's your favourite song," Fred and I both said in unison, then laughed, the tension lifted slightly.

"Well," Said Fred, standing up from the bench he sat on; I thought he was leaving but instead he was offering me his hand, "May I have this dance?" I smiled up at him from the ground and took his hand, he hoisted me up and we began dancing slowly to the distant music, his arms wrapped tightly round my waist.

"I must look a right mess," I said wiping away a stray tear from my cheek as we swayed.

"Darling, you look perfect," Fred said so quietly under his breath that if I hadn't been listening, I'd have probably missed it. I smiled up at him and he looked mildly embarrassed at having been heard. We danced in the growing darkness to our favourite song, under the star lit sky, I didn't dare speak in case I ruined this one perfect moment.

I could feel the grass coming up through the cracks in the courtyards stone floor tickling at my bare feet and in that one perfect moment I could see my entire future spread out in the flecks of gold in Fred's brown eyes but it wasn't real - it was just an illusion created by circumstance and situation in reality, Fred had a date waiting for him back in the great hall and I had, well I hadn't a lot really.

I pulled away from him as the song ended, "You should go back inside, Fred." I told him, pushing him gently away. "Angelina's not an idiot, she's probably already figured out that George isn't you."

"You're jealous of Angelina." Fred said with an annoying little grin. I turned away from him and went to pick up my shoes up from where I'd left them beside the stone bench.

"I am not," I lied not just to Fred but to myself as well.

"Yes you are, Emmy." Fred retorted, "Just admit it." He'd walked towards me while my back was turned and his ever cold hand burned against the warm skin of my shoulder where it now rested. I twisted round to face him again but his hand never strayed from my shoulder.

"Fine, I am." I admitted thinking it would take the weight off of my shoulders and fill the empty hollow in my stomach and for a second it did, only to replace it with a heavier weight of self-doubt, what if he thought - as I often suspected - that I was just a silly little girl throwing a tantrum?

"Why would something as glorious as the sun, be jealous of something as ordinary as a candle?" Fred asked, there was no hint of mocking in his eyes, no turned up corner of a suppressed grin on his lips, I dropped my shoes and they thudded against the stone floor as my arms found their way around Fred's neck, it was a messy kiss - fast and full of need and want as his hands, fingers and thumbs tangled in the curls of my hair and for the first time in a long time I felt light as a feather and my stomach felt full.

* * *

Fred

I could have let her leave and gone on pretending that I didn't care about her as much as she wanted but the way she said Angelina's name was like it burnt her tongue to say, so I pressed the subject and now I was getting exactly what I wanted. She was a vice I'd fought off for so long and now I had given in and I never wanted it to stop. I was ecstatic and sad all at the same time and it was mystifying.

I'd never been very good with words but whenever she entered a room it got brighter so it simply seemed natural to compare her to the sun because to me she was the sun, bright and warm and stunning, but if you got too close she could burn you up.

Her hair was soft as it slid through my fingers and she smelt sweet, like caramel – I knew she loved caramel. I should push her away, break her heart now before she was too invested in me, while I was still only an idea to her but I found myself pulling her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing her into myself like I could use myself as a shield to protect her from everything that could ever hurt her, I knew I could hurt her though – I'd get myself all worked up about letting anyone into the safe space I'd created around myself and then I'd self sabotage, do something to put her back at arms length, I did the same thing to George – he was my other half, the reflection that walked beside me and I only let him a few inches closer than the rest of the world.

I wanted to scream at myself to stop but I also didn't want to stop.


	7. Chapter 7

"You two are a right pair," Said Hermione one afternoon in the library, classes had started a little over a week ago and Fred and I had been avoiding each other or at least he had been avoiding me. "You said you'd figured this egg out together weeks ago." Hermione continued.

Harry began to apologise for lying to her but I just said, "That was to get you to shut up going on about it for five minutes." She scowled at me and Harry shot me a sour look. I didn't care if I hurt her feelings, she always acted so haughty about everything that it felt good to knock her down a peg. Hermione wandered off angrily into the shelves to find another book.

"That wasn't very nice, Em." Harry said, tiredly. I shrugged at him and told him I didn't care. "What's going on with you?" He asked. I hadn't told him about Fred because he was already convinced there was something going on between myself and Dean Thomas, apparently Dean had gone to Harry asking if he'd upset me when I left the ball early. "Is it Dean?" He asked now, a little awkwardly – I'm sure he'd never once in his life expected to start having a conversation with me about relationships.

I shook my head, "I already told you, there's nothing going on between me and Dean, Harry." I repeated for him again now what I'd been telling him for the last week.

"Well does he know that?" Harry asked, "He's constantly asking after you and I keep telling him he should just ask you himself – Merlin knows I never have any idea what's going on in your head."

"Trust me, you don't really want to know." I assured him

* * *

It was Harry who figured out the egg for us – well technically it was Cedric but he gave Harry the hint we needed. I spent the next two weeks figuring out a way to breathe underwater. I'd seen spells for such a thing in all the reading I'd done in the library but I didn't know if I could master any of them as they were quite advanced. Still it was my best shot and the day the second trial was to be held I had almost mastered the bubble head charm – It didn't quite last an hour but hopefully it wouldn't take me that long to find whatever it was I needed to find.

I felt incredibly uncomfortable stood on the floating pier in my swimsuit, a crowd of students huddled around me and Harry to my side. George stood directly behind me but Fred was missing, I wasn't surprised since he was still avoiding me.

"You haven't seen Fred have you?" George said coming to my side and wrapping an arm around my shoulder, he rubbed my arm which I was grateful for since standing there almost naked was quite cold.

"No," I replied, "But I think he's still avoiding me." George looked down at me with an apologetic smile, "He's not avoiding you, Emmy." He assured me, "He's just avoiding his feelings and he thinks the best way to do that is pretend he doesn't have any." George pulled me towards him so my head rested on his shoulder, "He's an idiot, and he's hating every second of it."

I watched as the water of the black lake sloshed around beneath us, it was still winter – why on earth were we being made to dive into freezing cold waters. The cannon sounded and the five of us cast our spells and dove into the water. My hair floated around me like pale seaweed. I didn't know where to began so I just swam aimlessly in the darkness for a while, till something reached out and grabbed me from behind – I thrashed about in fear till whatever it was grabbed me by the shoulders and held me still – It was Harry. I don't know what spell he was using, for siblings we didn't help each other very much but he had gills and I thought that was rather impressive. I had a bubble over my face, it worked but it didn't look half as cool.

We searched together after that, I wasn't as strong a swimmer as Harry but he had fins for feet so it was made easier for him, he took my hand whenever I slowed, pulling me along. We battled our way through the grindylows, it took time but with both of us casting spells at them it was easy enough.

We knew we'd found what we were looking for when we saw the horrifying sight of our friend's bodies floating in the water, tied to the bottom of the lake with a rope. They looked dead.

I pulled my hand away from Harry and swam towards Fred's lifeless body, putting my palm against his pale face. It felt like all the air was being sucked from my lungs – then I realised all the air was being sucked from my lungs. My charm was wearing off and the bubble around my head was shrinking, I had never made it to an hour in practice but I'd never made it to less than forty minutes, I was good with time – I was constantly late but I always knew without checking a clock exactly how late I was – we'd only been in the water for maximum half an hour. It must be the shock of seeing him this way, I told myself as I scrabbled furiously to retrieve my wand from the pocket I'd stored it in on the inside of my red and gold swimsuit. I was sinking further into the water, fast like a stone that weighed a tonne and my lungs were burning, there was no bubble left now and I could see Harry swimming down after me, he caught a hold of my ankle and began dragging me back upwards and I finally managed to pull my wand from it's pocket – there were black spots in my vision now but I tried to recast my charm.

It took a few attempts and I thought I was going to drown but I managed to reform the bubble around my head, gasping for breaths of air and coughing up dark water that the bubble released back into the lake. Harry spoke to me, it sound all gargled in the water but I could mostly make out that he was asking if I was okay – even under the water the worry in his voice carried.

I assured him I was fine even though my lungs still burned and I wanted to be sick. Harry pointed upwards to where the sunlight could be seen glittering on the surface of the water, "Go up." He told me and I nodded, I should go back to the surface, my breathing was still uneven and I really, really wanted to be sick – I must have swallowed water without even realising it. I cast a Diffindo spell to cut the rope that tied Fred to the bottom of the lake and as he slowly drifted to the bottom I caught up his arm and began swimming and dragging him to the surface. I had just pushed him up to the surface when I heard the commotion below.

Fred began to swim on his own and I turned back to see Harry being threatened by a merperson. I should go to the surface, I told myself, I'd already won – but watching my brother fight down below I couldn't just leave him.

I began to swim back down to help even though my lungs and stomach both protested.

Fred

I was rather confused for a second when I woke up in the water. I began to swim to the floating piers once the roar of the crowd broke through my daze. Once I reached the pier, George pulled me out and wrapped a towel round me. I was shivering, it was so cold.

"Where's Emmy?" George demanded, I thought for a minute that he was being an arse by not checking I was okay but then it dawned on me, it didn't matter if I was okay or not because Emalia hadn't come up to the surface with me. Professor McGonagall had explained what would happen quite clearly, I would be put under a sleeping charm and put in the water for Emmy to find, every champion had someone down there to retrieve and all the had to do was find them and take them to the surface, which meant Emmy must have found me and taken me to the surface, but where was she now?

I sat on the edge of the pier peering down into the black depths hoping I could magically locate her. Angelina had her arm wrapped round my shoulder and kept pressing herself into my side, I didn't much care for it but I did welcome the warmth. George paced behind me, it was rare that my brother got so restless about anything but this waiting was driving him mental.

Fleur had returned to the surface empty handed, given up and was sobbing that she hadn't been able to get past the Grindylows to save her sister. Cedric was the first successful champion to immerge, dragging a dripping Cho Change with him.

Next was Viktor Krum with our Hermione, she joined us on the edge of our pier once she'd been given a towel. She looked worried but ever the root of all knowledge she said, "I wouldn't worry too much. Dumbledore wouldn't let anything happen to them."

A few more minutes of nothing but surface ripples on the water and the hour was almost up. Then suddenly there was Ron's head bobbing in the water, looking just as gormless as usual and Fleur little sister beside him. Ron helped the little girl swim to the edge, pushing her up onto another pier into Fleur's arms. Another silent minute went past and then Harry and Emalia shot out of the water and hit the pier like lead weight. I shrugged Angelina off a little more forcefully than was polite as I raced to Emmy's side.


	8. Chapter 8

I couldn't breathe, I was on land but somehow I still couldn't breathe and the black spots were back. I was crying, I knew I was crying but it was silent sobs and for all anyone else could tell, I was just dripping from being in the lake. George wrapped a towel round me and pulled me into a hug, I knew it was George because I'd seen Fred with Angelina as soon as I'd hit the pier. Fred was at my side now looking worried and he kept reaching for me and then pulling back again. I burrowed my face into George's neck.

Once I'd warmed up a little, I pulled reluctantly away from George's hug and went to find Harry who was sat on the wooden floor of the pier, having towel after towel piled on top of him by Hermione. I dropped down beside him, pushing away the excess towels and wrapping both him and myself in one shared one. He put one arm around my shoulders and

I sat sideways so I could wrap both of mine around his, we shivered together.

I had been very worried for a while under the water that I was going to lose him, I could have died myself but I cared very little about that – It was like a burning in my scar, if Harry died there was no point in carrying on. I'd felt this only few other times and it was always the same, Harry was either gravely injured or close to death, such as the time he was bitten by the basilisk or when he battled all those dementors and it was always a despairing ache behind my ear, like a reminder that if Harry died then I had no reason to continue, which wasn't true of course but that's how it felt.

We'd come joint last, but I didn't care because we'd both come out alive. Hermione then informed us that actually Fleur hadn't completed the trial and so actually we'd come joint next-to-last. She really could be an insufferable know it all.

The judges were deliberating something on one of the other piers and they were taking forever to announce the results, I just wanted them to get it over with so I could go get by the fire in Gryffindor tower. Then Dumbledore's booming voice echoed out over the lake, due to moral fibre Harry and I had come joint second. I still didn't care, I still just wanted to go sit by the fire in Gryffindor tower.

Harry wanted me to go to the hospital wing when we got back to the castle but I outright refused, I insisted I was fine. I didn't feel fine, I still felt like I couldn't really breathe and a little like I still wanted to throw up but mostly I just felt tired and achy. Hermione forced harry to go see Madame Pomfrey and I started on the long walk up to Gryffindor tower.

* * *

A little while later I was spread out on the sofa in front of the fire, I had both my jumper and my scarf on as well as Fred's old blanket wrapped around me. I was still shivering. It was like the cold had settled in my bones. The common room was empty, everyone was probably down at dinner now and Harry was probably wondering where I was – I never missed dinner, food filled the hollowness inside me for a little while and so I tended to eat more than a lot.

"I hoped you'd still be up here," I looked over the back of the sofa to see Fred carrying two bowls or what I really hoped was ice-cream – I was freezing but ice-cream was still my favourite.

I shifted my feet so Fred could sit down at the opposite end of the sofa and he handed me one of the bowls. It didn't even feel cold in my hands, that's how cold my skin was. The ice cream was Caramel flavoured which was my absolute favourite and I wondered if perhaps Fred had been to visit the house elves in the kitchen to ask for it specially, he'd done it before.

"I suppose I should say thank you for saving me," Fred said tucking into his own bowl.

I shrugged, "It's not like you were in any real danger." I replied, "They'd have probably just plucked you out of the water at the end if I'd left you there." When I'd come out of the water, gasping for air and seen Fred cosied up with Angelina, I'd wished for a second that I had left him there.

Fred brought his feet up onto the sofa, he lifted his old blanket and spread out his legs so they lay beside my own before dropping the knitted sheet down again. He'd let in the cold but I couldn't complain since it was his blanket.

"Thanks anyway though." Said Fred, we ate ice-cream in silence for a moment before he spoke again, "I was worried," He said, "When you didn't come to the surface with me. I thought something awful must have been happening – Harry filled us in on what did happen." He smiled at me then, "Moral fibre? More like overprotective sister." I didn't feel much like smiling, even though I knew he was joking. I just felt tired and cold and even food didn't seem to make me feel any fuller.

I put the bowl, only half eaten, down on the floor; the metal spoon clinking against the side. I re-positioned myself so I was laying on my side and closed my eyes, I could feel Fred's eyes on me and I could imagine his worried expression – I'd just put my food down only half eaten, of course that would worry him, that would worry anyone that knew me.

"What are you doing?" He asked and I shushed him gently. I could feel the hit from the fire on my eyelids and it was soothing.

"I'm just resting my eyes," I told him, I felt a cold rush around my feet as he lifted the blanket and pulled his legs out from under it. I shouldn't have felt sad that he was leaving me alone to rest, especially since I was kind of mad at him about being so cuddled up to Angelina while I was possibly dying under the lake. Then the blanket lifted again, this time around my shoulders and Fred was climbing over the back of the sofa to lay down behind me. I was startled at first, opening my eyes wide and questioning what he was doing, he just shushed me and wrapped his arms around my waist, closing his eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked him again even though I felt myself melt into his arms like butter on a hot day.

"I'm just resting my eyes," He said lightly and I closed my eyes again. Fred was always cold but right then it didn't matter because so was I.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: I've done a time skip, you'll figure it out pretty quickly so don't panic. ~RainbowVeins**_

* * *

The nightmares wouldn't stop, Harry had been having nightmares for years – he was used to fitful nights but he was also used to getting over them pretty quickly, I on the other hand didn't usually dream at all. It was like being back in third year, when I'd woken up every night screaming but this was worse. My aunt and uncle would yell at me for waking them up in the middle of the night, my cousin Dudley usually slept through it and then would make fun of me for it in the morning. Some nights I just didn't sleep at all.

The dreams seemed so real, like I was reliving that night in the graveyard over and over again.

Voldemort's hissing voice commanding that Cedric be killed... I usually woke up crying, occasionally I woke up and was sick.

I think the worst part was seeing my parents, which sounds selfish really. I know most people can only dream of seeing ghosts of their lost loved ones but for me it was horrible because I could see them but they couldn't see me. I wished that was just part of a warped nightmare but that had really been how it was. I could hear them talking to Harry but they didn't acknowledge me at all. I stood next to Harry, holding his hand as his wand connected with Voldemort's, I willed every ounce of magic I had to my brother, in hopes that he could use it to beat him. My own wand lay on the grass across the graveyard, near the triwizard cup.

I'd been trying to have a nap when I heard the shouting from downstairs. I hadn't even realised Harry wasn't in the house but I heard the front door being slammed shut and Aunt Petunia shrieking, harry shouting back.

"What's going on?" I asked sleepily from the top of the stairs. Harry stood in the hallway at the bottom and looked up at me, he looked like he'd just seen death but I hadn't felt any kind of ache or pull behind my ear.

He explained about the dementor he'd just faced and then the letter arrived. It was one of those scary ones that reads itself allowed – I forget the name but Ron got one back in second year from his mum.

Harry had been expelled from Hogwarts and Uncle Vernon looked ecstatically happy about, he was actually grinning. The grin didn't last long as moments later another letter arrived; this one from Arthur Weasley telling Harry not to worry, Dumbldore was going to sort everything out. Not long after that a third letter arrived, this one is once again from the ministry announcing that a hearing was to be held. It all went so fast it was hard to keep up with. Harry and I were sent up to our room while Aunt Petunia tried to convince Uncle Vernon not to throw Harry out of the house.

"Was there really a dementor?" I asked Harry quietly, we sat on opposite beds on opposite sides of the room, each of us facing the other but staring past each other and focussing on the walls instead. Harry nodded, and the knot of fear and worry doubled in my stomach, all wrapped up in that ever present hollow feeling.

* * *

We hadn't been allowed out of our room in days, Harry was constantly angry because of this and because he was sick of his friends not replying to his letters. Fred and George didn't reply to mine either but I was more sad than angry about it.

Another night came and so did the nightmares, Harry had gotten used to waking up in the middle of the night to wake me before I screamed but it wasn't Harry who woke me this night – this time I was startled awake by a girl with la mop of purple hair. I pushed myself up out of bed, reaching for my wand on the side table. The girl stepped back and put up her hands in surrender.

"You should have just let me wake her," Harry said flicking on the light. Beside him stoodProfessor Moody and I thought I was going to scream right there, I thought I was stuck in a nightmare and that his face would change any second. "Hey, calm down, Em." Harry said, "It's the real him." He came to my side and found my glasses for me, I'd been using them more lately on account of my eyes being almost permanently tired. Harry was already packed and ready to go, I don't think he'd ever really unpacked. A moment later and Professor Lupin appeared at the bedroom door too, I'd started replying to his letters but this was the first time I'd seen him since third year – since that night. He smiled politely at me, standing a little awkwardly in the doorway. Harry hugged him tightly, I supposed he might want that kind of hello from me too but I didn't think I was quite ready for that.

I gathered my things quickly and then the group of wizards ushered us out of the house.

I still hated flying but I clung to Harry on the back of his broomstick as the others flew around us in a sort of triangle.

"Loosen up a bit, Emmy." Harry said at one point whilst we were flying over the river Thames, "I can't breathe." I apologised and loosened my grip, but only a little.

* * *

When we arrived at Grimmauld Place, I was still half asleep – I'd been half asleep for most of the summer to be honest. Harry greeted Mrs Weasley warmly, he'd always had this knack for just bouncing back – I didn't have that and I didn't greet anybody, the first thing I did was ask where I was sleeping. Up the stairs and the first door on the right, I repeated in my head as Harry and I climbed the stairs – Harry was across the hall, first door on the left. We parted ways at the top of the stairs and headed into our respective rooms.

I heard the chirping voice of a worried Hermione as Harry entered his room, Ron and Hermione must have been waiting for him. My room was empty which I was glad about - I was happy for the silence and thought I could perhaps get a nap in before dinner, I closed the door behind me, shutting out the voices from across the hall and went to lay down.

My head had only been sunk into my pillow for a few seconds when there was a knock at the door.

Fred

I thought she'd have been with Harry when she arrived but she'd locked herself in her room without even saying hello. I left the others in Harry's room, George explaining how we were going to listen in on the meeting downstairs.

I gently knocked on her door, I could have apparated straight inside but I didn't want to startle her.

"Emmy?" I said when no one came to the door and I knocked a second time, a little louder. Still there was no answer. "I'm not going away, so you may as well let me in." I could imagine her sighing as the lock on the door clicked and the door slowly swung open. She must have used magic because when I took a step into the room she was laid on to of the covers on her back, with her back to me.

"I'm tired, Fred." Said Emalia and she did sound tired, like just telling me she was tired exhausted her. "And I'm mad at you." She added. She could be mad at me as much as she wanted as long as she looked at me eventually. I walked to the side of her bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

"I wanted to write to you," I told her, "Honestly I did, I even wrote some letters out." It sounded pathetic but it was the truth. "Dumbledore told us we weren't allowed to talk to you, or Harry in case we told you too much."

"And when have you ever done as you were told, Fred?" She sat up rather quickly and I got my first good look at her in months – she looked exhausted, she had dark circles under her eyes but she was still beautiful, underneath the angry frown and the narrowed eyes she was still the sun to me.

"Okay," I conceded, "You can be mad at me for as long as you want and I'll accept it – just promise me you won't be mad forever?" I smiled at her and I could the corner of her lip twitching slightly, she was trying hard not to smile back.

"I promise to only be mad at you until after dinner." She replied after a few moments of narrow eyed, glaring at me. She smiled a little though she tried to hide it. I asked her if she wanted to come listen in on the meeting with us but she declined, she only wanted to try and sleep. I asked her if she wanted me to stay but she declined that too and told me she'd be fine.

She didn't look fine – she looked like she had after the attack in third year, she looked tired and scared and fragile. She laid back down as I got up to leave, I'd just reached the door when she spoke again.

"I missed you, Fred." She said in a half-asleep whisper, her eyes were closed and I smiled to myself as I left her room, shutting the door softly behind me.


	10. Chapter 10

Going back to Hogwarts had always felt like coming home but this year just didn't feel the same, the year before had changed me and the walls of Hogwarts no longer looked the same in my eyes. Everything was the same but also everything was different and I ate food to fill a void that only seemed to expand.

We had a new defence against the dark arts teacher – again – and she was the worst by far, and one of those teachers had a literal Lord Voldemort on the back of his head so the competition was pretty fierce. She didn't even really teach us anything, just had us copy from textbooks while she sat at her desk smiling her sickly sweet smile and looking like a cat who'd got the cream. She gave Harry a detention in her first lesson.

It was a barbaric detention and I almost wept when Harry showed me what she'd done to him, what she'd made him do to himself. I'd known something was wrong because I got that familiar ache behind my ear and I'd stood outside her office till he came out again. I spent a lot of time trying not to cry these days, I blamed it on the tiredness and the sleepless nights.

Wherever Harry and I walked by people would whisper – even some of the Gryffindors had turned against us, I walked beside harry protectively, started following him round like a lost sheep. I don't know if it was really because I wanted to protect him or if I just needed him close enough to protect me, I had a lingering sense of fear stuck to me – like a weight constantly on my shoulders. I felt closer to Harry this year than I had any year previous and while I enjoyed this, I did worry that he was pushing his friends away too much.

When I wasn't with Harry, I was with Fred and George, working on their little inventions – practical jokes and sweets that made you ill enough to get out of class, they were quite ingenious really. I stole moments alone with Fred when I could but even with him I still felt tense, like a coiled wire ready to spring at the first sign of danger. I knew he was worried about me, he voiced it enough times and we'd argued too many times about it.

Fred and I weren't a secret, but we also weren't not a secret – to be honest I wasn't even sure Fred and I were a real thing, we didn't act like a couple except for a few short kisses stolen here and there. Any time either of us brought up the subject, the other would change the conversation to something lighter, something easier to talk about. I regretted it every time I did it but I didn't want to face the chance that he might tell me we were only passing time till he left school.

The days went by in one long extended blur until one afternoon, Luna Lovegood introduced Harry and I to the thestrals. We'd been down to Hagrid's hut, Harry often stopped by now even though Hagrid wasn't there – I thought perhaps he hoped that one day we'd go down and he'd just be there, drinking from an extra large cup and talking about the next creature he'd acquired.

I liked Luna, she was strange but she was kind and she believed us. I felt like I'd made a friend in her and often I would seek her out, just to listen to her talk so light heartly about reatures I'd never heard of.

* * *

Professor Umbridge started to change things at Hogwarts, every day an new rule was added to the wall outside the great hall and she started to appear in other classes, interviewing the teachers and judging them. She banned all Weasley products but Fred and George still made them on the sly.

I think the final straw was when she tried to banish Professor Trelawney from the grounds. It was then that Dumbledore finally stepped in. He'd been ignoring Harry since before school had even began, this was something that Harry wasn't used to and it was upsetting him greatly. I felt useless, I didn't know how to make him feel better.

It was Hermione who came up with the idea for Harry to teach any student who wanted to learn how to defend themselves. For once I was on her side – we needed a teacher and Harry had already battled Voldemort more than once. Once everyone was in agreement, she began to get organised. Sometimes Hermione was quite scary with how quick she could prepare something, she'd organised a meeting in the Hog's Head by breakfast the next morning for the next trip to Hogsmeade. Both Harry and I were surprised by how many people actually turned up and equally surprised by how many stayed once the subject of the meeting got underway.

"I'm still worried that this could all go horribly wrong," I told Fred after the meeting ended – most people had left the pub but a few still lingered, asking Harry questions and getting answers from Hermione.

"You worry too much," Said Fred, kissing my forehead gently.

"Don't do that," I said casting a quick glance around the room, "Someone might see." Fred looked down at me with a sort of half-smile.

"Why should I care if someone sees me kissing my girlfriend?" He asked, here it was; the conversation we'd been avoiding for months.

"Am I your girlfriend?" I asked, feeling a little awkward.

"There you go worrying again." He replied, "Of course you're my girlfriend, what did you think you were all this time?" He still looked down at me, still wearing that little half-smile.

"Just a way to pass the time, I suppose." I answered and his face changed, he looked at me like I'd just said I wanted to grow a second head.

"How could you think that?" He asked but didn't give me chance to reply, "You could never be a way to pass the time, Emmy. Time stops when you're around."

I kissed him then, pulling his face down towards me and wrapping my arms around his neck. He lifted me onto my toes, pulling me towards him by my waist. I had a lot of things to worry about this year – the rise of Lord Voldemort, Professor Umbridge's reign of terror, failing all my exams that I never bothered to study for, but I didn't have to worry about kissing my boyfriend in a crowded pub with our friends only metres away.

* * *

Harry was a good teacher, he was patient and supportive and he looked like he enjoyed teaching. I could see Harry as a teacher, if our lives were normal and I wasn't convinced we were all living on borrowed time, I could definitely see Harry eventually becoming a teacher. I had no idea what I wanted to do once I left Hogwarts, I'd be surprised if I even managed to pass my OWLs this year.

"Do you think you could teach the DA some of those spells you've taught yourself?" Harry asked one afternoon while we were in the library. "I'm not exactly the most advanced wizard – I know absolutely no spells past fourth year and you know spells that I've never even heard of."

"I don't know, Harry." I replied, closing the book I'd been reading. "I'm not exactly teacher material." Harry insisted I'd be great but I still wasn't sure. "I suppose I could teach them to you," I suggested, "I just don't think I could teach a big group like that." Harry agreed to that and so we began our own lessons, Harry had always been a quick learner so every time I taught him another spell that I knew, he'd be teaching it to the DA the next day, meanwhile I was still trying to conjure a Patronus charm, I couldn't even conjure a wisp of blue cloud – even with the happiest of all my memories and I'd been trying since third year. On the bright side most of the spells I knew, I could now cast non-verbally so that was something.

The days flew by and Umbridge just made things worse everyday. She banned Fred, George and Harry from playing Quidditch and Hagrid came back to Hogwarts all beaten and bruised and talking about negotiations with the giants.

Then one of Harry's nightmares became all too real. Panic spread through our group, I stood by Harry in Professor Dumbledore's office as he stood shaking in a cold sweat and trying desperately to get the teachers attention. The old man gave his attention to everyone but Harry and I, sending paintings and teachers to search for the Weasley children and one painting to search for an injured Arthur Weasley at the ministry.

"Look at me!" Harry shouted, finally losing his temper with the teacher and startling me in the process. I reached for his hand, maybe to comfort him, maybe to comfort myself. Harry was whisked away by Professor Snape after that, something about learning to lock Voldemort out of his head – I prayed it went well. Then it was just me and Professor Dumbledore.

The old man sat at his desk, scribbling away with a long, white feather quill. I stood silently watching him for a moment, unsure of whether I should just leave and try to settle my unnerved feelings alone.

"P-Professor," I started but the old man didn't even look up, "Will Harry be alright, Professor?" I continued anyway. He still ignored me, it was like I wasn't even there. "Why do you ignore me?" I tried another question, "Why do you pretend that I don't exist?" My voice was rising in volume and I could feel myself getting angry, I didn't usually get angry, I got sad a lot but I wasn't one to really have a temper. I could feel it bubbling in my stomach, like a cauldron about to overflow. "Why do you dote on my brother but pretend I don't exist?" I didn't mean to slam my fists down on his desk but the sound of it echoed through the study. I also knocked over his ink.

Dumbledore did look up at me then and he had pity in his eyes. For the first time I could see a real emotion in the headmasters face and it was pity, he pitied me and I had no idea why. I didn't even wait for an answer before storming out of his office, slamming the door behind me with silent magic, so hard that the stone doorframe shook.

"What are you still _doing_ here?" I asked Fred when I entered the Gryffindor common room and saw him stood wearing his careful expression by the fireplace.

"I'm going, I just wanted to see you first." He replied, "Check that you were okay." He shrugged and I walked towards him wrapping my arms around his neck, his arms automatically slid round my waist and I hugged him tightly.

"You idiot," I wispered into his ear then gently pushed him away, "I'm fine, go be with your family."

" _You're_ my family." He said and pressed his lips to my forehead. I felt warmth rise all the way from my toes and up to my face when he said it. It took me another five minutes to convince him to leave, I had to assure him the Christmas holidays were only a few days away and I'd be with him then.

* * *

Christmas couldn't come soon enough, the days before the holidays felt suffocating at Hogwarts. Breathing didn't feel any easier when we reached Grimmauld place. Mr Weasley survived the attack but I think it put Harry on edge to know his dream was actually real and seeing Mr Weasley all bandaged up just sunk that in a little more.

I spent Christmas morning in my room trying to work up the energy to go downstairs and pretend that everything in the world was fine. I could smell Mrs Weasley's excellent cooking wafting up the stairs and my stomach growled - I hadn't bothered with breakfast and I'm sure it was pretty close to lunch, maybe even later when there was a knock at the door.

I waved a hand from where I lay in bed and heard the door lock click and the hinges squeak as the door opened.

"Are you getting up at all today?" Fred asked from the doorway, "I mean it is Christmas and mum would very much like you to join us for dinner." I pulled the covers over my head and groaned, I really didn't want to get up. I felt the mattress sink beside me and Fred pulled back the covers, "Okay Potter, ten more minutes and then I'm dragging you down to dinner whether you want too or not." I smiled up at him, a little embarrassed that he was seeing my hair before I'd tamed it. "It's either I drag you downstairs or mum does." Fred sink down beside me, resting his head in the hollow between my neck and shoulder. "And she probably wouldn't be as big a pushover about it as I am." I loved being this close to him, close enough to smell his hair and close enough to hear each breath he took. It was like being in a bubble, a safe little bubble that felt unbelievably normal.

"We should get downstairs before your mum comes up and catches you in my bed," I said but I didn't move, I didn't care if she caught us – we weren't doing anything – I just wanted to feel normal for as long as I could. Fred didn't move either, we stayed, laid together just staring up at the canopy above my bed and pretending we weren't preparing for a war.

* * *

Dinner tasted just as good as it had smelled and I ate more than even I normally would have. They'd been waiting all day for me to appear so they could open presents – Mrs Weasley had insisted – which made me feel guilty for not coming down sooner. Fred got me a locket for Christmas, silver and in the shape of heart. It was small, about the size of a penny and when I opened it there was that picture of us from the first triwizard tournament task – the one Rita Skeeter had only put in the article as a space filler. The same one I'd cut out of the paper and kept paper clipped to the inside of my notebook because it was the only photo I'd ever seen of us together – in it we were laughing, his arm was round me and he was smiling at the floor while I smiled up at him - I can't even remember now what he'd said to make me smile. I loved it and had him clip it round my neck immediately- it'd never be taken off again.

Then it seemed like I blinked and Christmas was over and we were back at school where the air was too thick to breathe.

* * *

 _I feel like my chapters are getting progressively shittier - sorry about that. If you could be kind enough to leave me a review I'd be so grateful. **~RainbowVeins**_


	11. Chapter 11

This DA meeting didn't start any different to any other meeting, it was going well – everyone was doing really well and then the walls started shaking. Fred appeared at my side, he stood a little in front of me as if to protect me from whatever was coming. An explosion sounded and the walls shook again.

It was like everybody had frozen in time as we waited for the next explosion, this one bigger than the last. It cased the wall to crumble before us to reveal Professor Umbridge and her goon squad made up of Slytherins. She was wearing that sickly sweet smile on her frog-face when she instructed her goons to apprehend them.

Harry and I - because I refused to let go of his arm when they were going to take him alone – were taken up to Dumbledore's office. They were met there by two aurors from the ministry – one of which was Kingsley Shacklebolt - and the minister himself. Dumbledore took the blame for the whole thing, of course he would, the parchment literally said 'Dumbledore's Army'. Then he disappeared in a blaze of phoenix fire. It was spectacular and dramatic – just what I would have expected from him.

Umbridge was anointed headmistress and things took another turn for the worse. The list of rules doubled and were enforced stricter than before, if that was even possible. I think I hated Umbridge more than I hated anyone – including Voldemort.

* * *

"Have you thought much about your future, Miss Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked one morning during my careers advice session, I laughed a little to myself.

"I'm not entirely sure I'll even have a future to prepare for if I'm being honest, Professor." I replied and she cast me a worried glance before looking down at what I assumed was a list of my grades.

"Well your grades have always been impressive enough, though they have slipped this year." She didn't say it accusingly, just informatively – like she wasn't sure I knew they had dropped. I did know, it was hard to keep my grades up when I spent so much time worrying about other things and trying not to have a mental breakdown.

"Your brother wants to be an auror." She said looking up at me over the top of the page. That wasn't surprising to me, Harry sometimes liked the danger and he liked justice – though I still saw him settling down as a teacher eventually. "Would that be something you were interested in as well?" She asked.

"No." I refused flatly, "I don't want to be part of a battle that never ends." McGonagall nodded and wrote down a note on my page. "I'm not sure I want anything to do with magic once I leave Hogwarts." It wasn't really true but at the time it was certainly how I felt – I knew deep down I could never leave the wizarding world behind.

McGonagall and I had a long chat but in the end I still came up with no plan for after Hogwarts – she suggested I take a good range of subject so that when I eventually found where I fit, I'd have something that could be to my advantage.

* * *

Fred and George had been having a lot of fun at Umbridge's expense, much to my own amusement. Their pranks kept growing more elaborate – they created a swamp right outside of her office which was particularly impressive.

"We're cooking up something big." George said in the common room one evening. He was leaning over a piece of parchment that was spread out on the coffee table.

"What is it?" I asked, I was leaning against Fred, one of his arms draped over my shoulder as I read a book.

"That would spoil the surprise." George replied and I looked up at Fred who shook his head to say that he wouldn't tell me either. I'd wait, no doubt it would be spectacular.

* * *

It was spectacular, we were in the middle of our third OWL exam – this one was for charms and I was breezing through it quite easily – when there was a strange fizzing noise outside the great hall door. Professor Umbridge who'd been sat watching over us from her throne-like chair stood up and click-clacked her way down to the doors. She swung the door open to reveal a little ball of fizzing flames, it hovered around her head for a few seconds causing confused expression to cross her brows and then it flew past her into the hall and up into the air where it promptly exploded in a flash of blue light.

Fred and George nearly knocked the woman onto her back when they flew their brooms into the hall, using a charm to scatter our exam papers and throwing more fireworks around the room, creating an array of rainbow flashes and a chorus of high pitched whistles and explosions. The hall erupted in roars of cheering. Fred flew past me and winked as he dropped another fireworks, this one danced around my head a little and then shot up into the air and erupted in a spray of silver stars.

Umbridge looked both dazed and furious at the same time as she came back into the hall. Fred and George hovered in the air for a moment, looked at each other and nodded. In unison they threw what would be their last fireworks – they erutped into a flaming red dragon which chased Umbridge down the hall and out the door where it promptly snapped its jaws closed around her erupting into several more fireworks which attacked the walls that held all her preposterous rules. Umbridge was shaken but – sadly – unhurt, Fred and George weren't the type of people to seriously harm anyone with their pranks. The frames that held her rules shattered around her, the glass shattering musically.

Then the twins shot past her on their brooms and out into the yard, the crown of students raced after them on foot, including myself. We watched them fly off, one more firework – a golden 'w' - filling the sky. I waited for them to turn back, they'd get in trouble of course but they weren't just going to leave, they were just dots in the distance now.

Harry stood by my side but he'd stopped clapping and cheering, it was only when he collapsed to the ground that I pushed my feelings of loss down and turned to my brother, ready to help him. He'd had another vision, he'd never had them while awake before. This one was of Sirius.

We raced into action, like we'd been training to do and we couldn't have guessed how everything was about to go so terribly wrong.


End file.
